The present invention relates in general to nuclear radiation level detectors, and more particularly to a nuclear radiation level detector suitable for use in homes, schools, hospitals, offices, vehicles, and the like.
Heretofore, smoke detectors have been employed to operate an alarm in the event smoke is detected in a home, school, hospital, hotel, or the like. There is a need for a low cost electronic device to detect nuclear radiation levels that can be mounted in a home or the like in a manner similar to the mounting of a smoke detector in a home or the like.
Nuclear power plants or similar facilities have employed apparatus for detecting the level of nuclear radiation. However, such apparatus have been too expensive, complex and cumbersome for homes, hotels, hospitals, schools, and the like.
In the text by Price, Nuclear Radiation Detection published by McGraw Hill (1958), pages 74 and 88, there is disclosed a standard air-wall ionization chamber connected to an electrometer for nuclear radiation detection. As the energy of X-photons or gamma-ray photons increase, the size of the standardization chamber increases. This action was obviated through the use of an actual wall of solid material with the same composition as air. An air-equivalent chamber is produced by using Bakelite, Lucite and other plastics for the solid material. The surface of the plastic is coated with a colloidal carbon to give it the conductive properties for electrodes of ionization chambers.
Motorola Semiconductor Products, Inc. of Austin, Tex., has manufactured and sold an MC14467, an integrated circuit semiconductor device referred to as a low power, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, medium scale integration, for use in low cost smoke detectors. The MC14467 integrated circuit semiconductor device, when used with an ionization chamber and external components, serves as a smoke detector.